Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
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There's a link in the show notes the historic Odysseus Lander
which achieved the soft landing on the moon last Thursday.
It's facing a critical countdown.
The company behind the space venture, Intuitive Machines, has
indicated communication with the spacecraft might only be
possible until Tuesday morning due to its compromise position
and limited solar power collecting facilities.
Now the Landers predicament stems from its unintended
orientation flying on its side in some portion of position.
Amperage, Edibility. The harvest solar energy
efficient intuitive machines initially even for the Lander to
operate on the lunar surface for at least a week, but it's goal
is now unattainable. The diminishing sunlight as the
lunar night approaches spells absolute doom.
Protecius The prolonged darkness of the lunar night lasting 2
weeks will deprive the Lander of necessary solar power, leading
to its inevitable demands. Now, the root cause of the short
mission duration lies in the lander's landing dynamics.
Intuitive Machine CEO Steve Altimas revealed that while the
descent speed was within the design tolerances, an unexpected
lateral move then complicated the landing, possibly causing
the land in the tip went down pretty slow, 6 miles an hour
downwards in, two miles an hour across.
So it didn't have a modest speed, but since there's not a
lot of gravity on the moon, it tipped right over.
Now Altimas speculated that the lunar surface might have stagged
one of the Landers leg, leading to potential damage and a
subsequent toppling of a spacecraft.
This scenario suggests the Lander is not fully horizontal,
but slightly elevated, allowing for some solar and collection
efforts to reorient the Lander. Solar panels for better sunlight
exposure seem to have been unsuccessful.
With the available solar panels only able to provide power until
Tuesday morning and missions operational window is critically
limited and assistance from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter proved invaluable in pinpointing the Landers exact
location. This collaboration helped
ascertain the Landers challenging landing terrain with
a crater tilted at 12°. Now despite the compromise
position, intuitive machines remained optimistic about
fulfilling most of the Landers scientific objectives.
The company's executives believe that significant mission data
could still be transmitted back to Earth now.
The uncertainty now lies on whether there is sufficient time
to download all the planned data before the Lander loses power.
The latest updates from intuitive machines on this
matter have been a little bit sparse, and the prospect of
retrieving images from Odysseus remain uncertain.
Today. No surface images have been
shared, but there's hope that a student developed Cubesat camera
might capture and transmit images before the lander's power
is depleted. Now the mission's success is the
subject of debate. Odysseus represents a
groundbreaking endeavor as the first privately developed
spacecraft to achieve a soft landing.
Now, particularly near the challenging terrain of a lunar
pole, and despite not meeting all of its mission objectives,
the initial successful landing of Odysseus on the Moon is a
huge milestone. This achievement underscores the
capabilities of intuitive machines marks an important
moment in private lunar exploration.
Other challenges faced by Odysseus?
They're complex. Lunar landings are hard,
especially in less explored regions like the lunar poles,
and the mission's difficulties provide valuable lessons for
future lunar exploration missions.
Intuitive Machines and NASA have collaborated here and through
the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
It's an important partnership. They can see the Lander.
Such collaborations can enhance mission success and provide
critical support in unforeseen circumstances on the lunar
surface, and the potential loss of Odysseus due to its power
constraints shows the importance of robust landing strategies in
the need for contingency plans in space missions.
This incident may influence the design and planning of future of
lunar Landers now. The outcome of this mission,
whether it deemed a success or partial failure, contributes to
the broader knowledge base of lunar exploration.
Every mission, regardless of its end result, offers insights that
can inform and improve subsequent endeavors.
And the fate of Odysseus serves as a reminder of how harsh and
unforgiving spaces the challenges encountered by the
Lander show the need for resilience and adaptability in
space technologies too. How This mission with this
historic soft lunar landing is a huge milestone, very important
in space exploration. And despite its one day
operational period, the experiences and data gathered
from this mission will undoubtedly contribute to the
advancement of lunar exploration and the future of space travel.
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